Sharon Hill mother accused of biting 23-month-old child

By ROSE QUINN

Friday, May 24, 2013

A Sharon Hill mother whose online resume lists her as a mental health professional has been charged with biting her 23-month-old son back in 2011, leaving as many as 30 lesions all over his body that she insisted to physicians at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia resulted from an undiagnosed medical condition.

The injury patterns found on the boy "correlates to the teeth" of 29-year-old Yaasmiyn Stradford-Coleman, according to the criminal complaint, filed May 17. Her dental impressions were taken as evidence under a search warrant sought by county detectives and local police as part of an investigation that began Nov. 8, 2011, after CHOP referred her son's case to Delaware County Children and Youth Services.

Stradford-Coleman's arrest capped the 18-month investigation, a complex case that included multiple consultations with medical experts, among other sensitive tasks, a source close to the investigation said Friday. Throughout the investigation, CYS has been monitoring the boy's welfare and for a period of time earlier in the probe, had placed him with a relative to live, the source said.

The boy was back at home on Dec. 6, 2012, when according to court documents, a CYS official met with him about some new bruising on his body. At this point, the boy had turned 3.

"Mommy bit me," he told the CYS official, according to the affidavit of probable cause for arrest written by Detective Adam Sendek of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division and Detective Richard Herron Jr. of the Sharon Hill Police Department.

And when the boy was asked to mark a pair of 8-inch-by-11-inch drawings of a young boy's anatomy with a crayon to show where he'd been bitten by his mother, he marked 12 spots, the affidavit states.

Charges filed against Stradford-Coleman include felony aggravated assault, as well as simple assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of children, all misdemeanors.

Stradford-Coleman was preliminarily arraigned May 18 and was immediately remanded to the county prison after failing to post 10 percent of $75,000 bail set by Magisterial District Judge Jack Lippart. Bail was posted May 20 and she was released, according to online documents.

According to the affidavit, the 23-month-old child was treated at CHOP back in November 2011 for buttocks swelling that was thought to be an infection. In addition to having "multiple markings of different sizes, including bite marks," the child had "hematoma bruising on his buttocks and blood in the white of his eyes."

At the time, Stradford-Coleman told the hospital her son had a previous sprain in his left thigh.

In reporting the case to CYS, a CHOP physician determined the boy's injuries were "non-accidental," the affidavit states.

More specifically, according to the affidavit, a CHOP physician found "oval and circular lesions all over his body, including arms, chest, legs and diaper area around his penis and buttocks." Additionally, the boy had bluish spots on his feet.

According to the affidavit, a CHOP physician also noted that Stradford-Coleman had previously taken her son to Delaware County Memorial Hospital on Nov. 11, 2011, "due to an unknown rash," which the child's primary physician had diagnosed as cellulitis.

Ultimately, a team at CHOP determined the marks found on the boy's body were human bite marks, and other injuries were attributed to other non-accidental trauma, according to the affidavit.

Citing CYS documentation, the affidavit states that Stradford-Coleman said she was her son's primary caregiver and no one had unsupervised contact with him since the marks appeared on his body. Though CYS later determined the child spent unsupervised time with three other adults, there are no charges pending against anyone else, according to a source.

In July 2012, Dr. Sheila D. Dashkow, a dentist certified in forensics, notified the Delaware County District Attorney's office that she had reviewed 30 photographs of the skin lesions on the boy's body taken when he was being treated at CHOP. "Dashkow saw gross characteristics to be considered a pattern injury consistent with a human bite into skin," the affidavit states.

Stradford-Coleman's dental impressions were taken Dec. 3, 2012, after investigators obtained a search warrant for two sets of diagnostic models. The warrant also covered a set of orthodontic photographs. Within four days, the evidence was delivered to Dashkow's office.

On May 14, Dashkow notified Delaware County Deputy District Attorney Michael Galantino about the results of her comparison.

"Dr. Dashkow's assessment is that the patterned injury on the child victim correlates to the teeth of Yaasmiyn Stradford-Coleman. The incisal edges of her upper canine teeth would have been able to produce the type of injuries see on the child victim," the affidavit states.

According to her LinkedIn.com page, Stradford-Coleman is a mental health professional whose previous employers include Interact, Devereux and Community Council in Philadelphia. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Cheyney University in 2005, and a master's in counseling psychology with elementary/secondary guidance certification from Immaculata University in 2009.

Additionally, she was a guidance counselor intern at Delcroft Elementary School between January and April in 2009; an alternative program clinical intern at Academy Park High School from December 2008 through April 2009; and a secondary guidance counselor intern at Academy Park from August through November in 2008.

A preliminary hearing is listed for May 28 before Magisterial District Judge Leonard Tenaglia.